5 Reasons why many Leaders fail the Life Test of Integrity

This is a story of a leader we will name Robertson who was once
a foreign student in a certain country to further his education at university.
As a foreign student, he knew he needed to dedicate more effort to his studies
because the course was to be taught in a language foreign to him. He needed to
be fluent in speaking and writing the language and to be able to catch up with
his mates.

Robertson, the young leader had a set of strong values and
principles which would guide him during his academic year. Two of these values
were integrity and honesty and his motto was “no matter what happens in the
exam room he would not communicate with anyone or cheat in any way. He would
not ask anyone or allow anyone to ask him.” These values were his compass and
helped him navigate the first academic year of his Doctorate Program. Robertson
studied hard to understand the courses and to be the best he could be. He was
upholding that personal value of integrity till one day when he happened to be
writing one of his difficult papers. It was in a computer laboratory and he
could not remember a key formula to help start answering the set of questions.
Without that formula, there was no way he could continue the work. Robertson,
out of frustration, called somebody to assist him. He compromised his values by
cheating during that exam and knew without a shadow of doubt that he had not
only failed the paper but had also failed the profound personal test of
integrity. He had to re-sit during his doctorate program at the university.

This article is intended to help us learn some valuable lessons
from Robertson’s bitter experience. We will propose some five reasons why many leaders fail the life test of integrity.

The
word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning
whole or complete or intact. In this context, integrity is the inner
sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and
consistency of character. Wikipedia defines integrity as the practice of being
honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral
and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the
honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions.

Another author puts it simply, integrity is “doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, and how you said you would do it”.

The first reason for which leaders fail the integrity test is
the non-clarification of their values

Values are beliefs we
choose to guide our lives. Our values are the deep-seated standards that
influence almost every aspect of our lives: our moral judgements, our responses
to others, our commitments to our goals. When we do not clarify our values and
have not taken time to think about them, we can easily fall prey in times of
adversity and/ or opposition. As leaders, we should ask ourselves what our
values are and honestly answer if we live out these values and are willing to
die for them. “Knowing beforehand what your proper response will be to any
situation involves a moral choice.”

In his book Winners Never Cheat,
Jon Huntsman, Sr.,
multibillionaire who started a chemical company from scratch and grew it into a
multibillion-dollar business
shares his own experience in which he steadfastly refused to compromise his
principles. Huntsman acknowledged that the key of his success is integrity. He
advised,
“There are no moral shortcuts in the game of business or life, (…) There are,
basically, three kinds of people, the unsuccessful, the temporarily successful,
and those who become and remain successful. The difference is character.”

Clearly, defining and clarifying our life values is a
must for any good leader who wants to walk in the path of integrity or
character.

The second reason for failing the integrity
test is the lack of commitment to living the value(s) we claim to
believe in.

It is one thing to clearly clarify our life
values and another thing to be committed to live them. A writer by the name
Freya Stark says “There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are
different from the things we do.” Many leaders can argue that they are people
of integrity and that integrity is very important for them, but are not willing
to pay the price. A lack of commitment to what we call important to us only
reveals what we truly believe in. It is said that if you don’t stand for
something you will fall for almost anything. The need to stand for integrity is
critical and cannot be over-emphasized. “The truth is incontrovertible, malice
may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is”, declares
Winston Churchill. True and lasting success is always built on a bedrock of
integrity. “Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch. Nay,
you may kick it about all day, and it will be round and full at evening”,
emphasizes author Wendell.

The lack of courage and boldness is the
third reason why leaders fail the integrity test

“Integrity means telling
the truth even if it is ugly. Better to be honest than to delude others,
because then you are probably deluding yourself, too.” Being a person of
integrity can seem costly in the short term but pays huge dividends in the long
term. The true test of character is what one thinks, says, or does when no one
is watching. Being bold and courageous can make a leader unpopular but what is
popular is not always right; and what is right is not always popular. So is it
not worth opting to stand for what you believe in?

According to the Chairman
and CEO of Brian Tracy International, Brian Tracy, “having honesty and
integrity in the workplace is one of the most important qualities of great
leadership in business and I am going to tell you why…Whenever I hold a
strategic planning session, the first value that all the executives
agree on is integrity. Leaders know that honesty
and integrity are the foundations of leadership. Leaders stand up for what they
believe in.” Being courageous means
also being vulnerable, admitting our mistakes when we are wrong and welcoming
feedback whether positive or negative. Humility is a constant companion of
integrity, says an author.

The street named
“integrity or honesty” is a narrow, uncrowded path. Dishonesty is a wide road.
Many leaders find safe harbor in the area of dishonesty. The basic ethic goes
like this: If no one sees you cheating (or lying or stealing), then you won’t
get caught; and if you won’t get caught, then it’s all right, because unless
you are caught you haven’t technically done anything wrong. We must constantly
remember that integrity is a matter of the heart and the heart never lies.
Leaders need to deal with the issue of honesty or integrity before it deals
with us, observed Patrick Morley.

The fourth reason why many leaders fail the life test of
integrity is failing
to do the right thing because that is the right thing
to do

Doing
the right thing is not an occasional thing. It is an everyday thing. Sometimes
leaders are short-sighted and try avoiding short-term pain for long-term gain.
There are many examples of temporary winners who won by cheating. What is sad
though is that a business built over years is suddenly destroyed by a second or
some minutes’ indulgence in acts of corruption or lies get uncovered after a
number of years. Small acts of compromise ultimately destroy one’s character.
“The softest pillow is a clear conscience”, advises Norman Vincent Peale.

A
man became very successful in the real estate brokerage business. A hopeful
protégé asked him how he was able to excel to such heights. “I am just an
average, hardworking, honest broker. I am nothing special,” he said. “You see,
it is just that many people in this business cut so many corners that an honest
and average man like me all of sudden looks great”

Here
is a classic experience of a lack of integrity by a business partner which was
written in the book The Man in the Mirror “One evening I stopped
by the home of a business colleague to drop off some papers. Next to his phone
was a notepad with the company logo on it. The company policy manual stated
that no office supplies were to be consumed for personal use. From that day forward
my confidence in him was never quite the same. For him, that was an expensive
pad of paper” “ If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”
emphasized Mark Twain.

The fifth reason for which many leaders fail the integrity test
is that they underestimate the price of integrity

Patrick Morley narrated in
his book, The Man in the Mirror, his experience – “A man sitting next to me
on a plane ordered a drink- a bourbon and coke. The busy flight attendant said
she would come back to collect his money, which he left lying on his tray
table. She passed up and down the aisle several times. It became obvious the
flight attendant had forgotten about his money. After she made a half dozen
trips past us, my aisle-mate reached over, picked up his money, and slipped it
back into his coat pocket. Integrity-what’s the price?Sold for $6
drink.” Many people, leaders included,
think first about ‘huge’ indiscretions when we talk about dishonesty or
corruption. We forget that if we are dishonest with little, we will also be
dishonest with much.

In conclusion, Patrick
Morley gives some brilliant advice which in my opinion summarizes the best way
to solve the problem of integrity, “one dilemma we all face is deciding whether
or not to be honest on a case-by-case basis. During the course of a normal day
we each have scores of opportunities to lie, cheat, and steal. If we must
decide each time we make a decision whether we will be honest or not, we
consume a lot of energy and run the risk of making a sloppy decision and
compromising our integrity”.

Most leaders make dozens of integrity decisions each day. But we can settle the issue of integrity by making a once-and-for-all-commitment to always choose the honest way and to be always accountable. Are we willing as leaders to make a once-and-for-all-commitment to integrity and to be accountable?”.